N.D.G. residents urged to airtraffic beefs

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is full of young families and people who favour human-powered transport — walking and cycling. Montreal desperately wants to keep those families from moving to the suburbs and those cyclists and pedestrians from switching to cars.

“People are starting to say that they’re going to move,” said Stéphanie Couillard, of the Comité citoyen N.D.G., which is rallying disgruntled residents to attend a Transport Quebec public meeting Thursday on how Turcot Interchange work will affect N.D.G.

Traffic woes started with construction on the McGill University Health Centre superhospital in lower N.D.G., which caused many lane and street closings.

More recently, two Turcot ramps were closed for repairs and much of Sherbrooke St. (near Décarie Blvd.) was closed for sewer work, sending more traffic on to residential streets, Couillard said.

To make matters worse, Transport Quebec plans to close St-Jacques St. over the Décarie Expressway in June for two years because of work on the new Turcot. More lane and street closings are expected as Turcot work ramps up the next few years.

“It’s a lot less safe to walk, cycle or drive. Roads are more crowded, drivers are more impatient and there are more cars from other parts of the island driving through N.D.G. to reach downtown and highways,” Couillard said.

“This is not a war against cars or traffic,” added Couillard, who drives a car. “It’s just a reminder we need to take care of pedestrians and cyclists, too.”

She said the focus of those making decisions — at Transport Quebec and at the city of Montreal — “is on creating the least possible friction for drivers.”

The Côte-St-Antoine Rd. resident said she sees the impact daily, including near the elementary school her four children attend at N.D.G. and Girouard Aves.

In recent years, to slow down traffic on N.DG. Ave., authorities created a bike path and reorganized traffic lanes so only one went straight through the intersection, past the school.

But Couillard complained bike-path markings have faded and the borough recently changed traffic lanes again to allow two lanes of cars to go straight on N.D.G. Ave.

“We shouldn’t always sacrifice cycle lanes and walking paths and pedestrian security in the name of car fluidity,” Couillard said. “The borough’s concern is mostly to cars moving and I can understand that point of view, but it feeds the idea that the attitude to pedestrians and cyclists is: tough.”

She has similar complaints about the Société de transport de Montréal, which has started work on a reserved Sherbrooke St. bus lane without pedestrian-safety measures her committee suggested, including longer crossing times and a pedestrian island near N.D.G. Park.

Côte-des-NeigesN.D.G. Mayor Russell Copeman defended the borough, saying it has balanced the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

He said lane changes on N.D.G. Ave. have not increased the number of cars in front of the school; they simply improved traffic flow. The borough has said it plans to repaint the bike lane this summer.

In March, Copeman publicly chastised Transport Quebec for ignoring borough concerns about the impact of Turcot work on N.D.G. drivers and pedestrians.

Copeman said there has since been a “notable improvement” in communication between the borough and Transport Quebec.

The ministry recently assured the borough that St-Jacques will not be closed until the city can reopen one lane in each direction on Sherbrooke, Copeman said. That could happen within about two weeks, he added.

This week, a change was made to traffic signals at an N.D.G. intersection swamped by cars: Côte-St-Luc Rd. and Décarie Blvd.

Instead of one lane of traffic, two can now turn from Côte-St-Luc Rd. eastbound to Décarie Blvd. southbound to reach Highway 15. For safety reasons, that means pedestrians can no longer cross part of the intersection.

Walkers heading to the nearby Villa Maria métro station should now use Monkland Ave., which offers a safer crossing anyway, Copeman said. Those heading to a nearby high school, however, must cross two extra roadways.

“I expect some pushback from pedestrians,” he said. “It’s a question of do the advantages exceed the inconveniences.”

Transport Quebec’s meeting is to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, at the St-Raymond Community Centre, 5600 Upper-Lachine Rd.

ariga@montrealgazette.comTwitter: andyrigaFacebook: AndyRigaMontreal

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